First two novels

The Twenty-Seventh City, published in 1988, is set in Franzen's hometown, St Louis, and deals with the city's fall from grace, its having been the "fourth city" in the 1870s. This sprawling novel was warmly received, and established Franzen as an author to watch.

Strong Motion (1992) focuses on a dysfunctional family, the Hollands, and uses seismic events on the American East Coast as a metaphor for the quakes that occur in family life.

In September 2001, The Corrections was selected for Oprah Winfrey's book club. Franzen was initially willing to participate in the selection, sitting down for a lengthy interview with Oprah and appearing in B-roll footage in his hometown of St. Louis (described in an essay in How To Be Alone entitled "Meet Me In St. Louis"). In October 2001, however, The Oregonian printed an article in which Franzen expressed unease with the selection. In an interview on National Public Radio's Fresh Air, he expressed his worry that the Oprah logo on the cover dissuaded men from reading the book:

So much of reading is sustained in this country, I think, by the fact that women read while men are off golfing or watching football on TV or playing with their flight simulator or whatever. I worry — I'm sorry that it's, uh — I had some hope of actually reaching a male audience and I've heard more than one reader in signing lines now at bookstores say 'If I hadn't heard you, I would have been put off by the fact that it is an Oprah pick. I figure those books are for women. I would never touch it.' Those are male readers speaking. I see this as my book, my creation.

Soon afterward, Franzen's invitation to appear on Oprah's show was rescinded. Winfrey announced, "Jonathan Franzen will not be on the Oprah Winfrey show because he is seemingly uncomfortable and conflicted about being chosen as a book club selection. It is never my intention to make anyone uncomfortable or cause anyone conflict. We have decided to skip the dinner and we're moving on to the next book."[4][5]

By declining Oprah's pick, Franzen gained himself and his novel widespread media attention. The Corrections soon became one of the decade's best-selling works of literary fiction. At the National Book Award ceremony, Franzen thanked Oprah in his brief acceptance speech: "I'd also like to thank Oprah Winfrey for her enthusiasm and advocacy on behalf of The Corrections."[6]

Non-fiction essays

Since The Corrections Franzen has published How to Be Alone (2002), a collection of essays including "Perchance To Dream", and The Discomfort Zone (2006), a memoir. How To Be Alone is essentially an apologia for reading, articulating Franzen's uncomfortable relationship with the place of fiction in contemporary society. It also probes the influence of his childhood and adolescence on his creative life, which is then further explored in The Discomfort Zone.

Translations

In September 2007, Franzen's translation of Frank Wedekind's play Spring Awakening (German: Frühlings Erwachen) was published. In his introduction, Franzen describes the Broadway musical version as "insipid" and "overpraised." In an interview with New York magazine, Franzen stated that he had in fact made the translation for Swarthmore College's theater department for $50 in 1986, and that it had sat in a drawer for 20 years since. After the Broadway show stirred up so much interest, Franzen said he was inspired to publish it because "I knew it was a good translation, better than anything else out there."[7]

TV appearances

Franzen made an appearance on Charlie Rose in 1996 with fiction authors David Foster Wallace and Mark Leyner to discuss the effects of electronic media on the role of fiction in society.[8]

Franzen guest starred alongside Michael Chabon, Tom Wolfe, and Gore Vidal in the Simpsons episode "Moe'N'a Lisa", which originally aired 19 November 2006. In the episode, he got into a fistfight with his real-life friend Chabon.[9] Franzen, Chabon, and Wolfe were originally supposed to be killed by a giant boulder, but that ending was cut.[citation needed]

Freedom

Following the success of The Corrections and the publication of The Discomfort Zone and How To Be Alone, Franzen began work on his next novel. In the interim, he published two short stories in The New Yorker: "Breakup Stories", published November 8, 2004, concerned the disintegration of four relationships; and "Two's Company", published May 23, 2005, concerned a couple who writes for TV, then splits up.[10]

On June 8, 2009, Franzen published an extract from his work-in-progress fourth novel, Freedom, in The New Yorker. The extract, titled "Good Neighbors", concerned the trials and tribulations of a couple in St. Paul, Minnesota. Apart from this extract, little is known about the content of the novel, although Franzen has revealed that there will be a German aspect to Freedom, remarking to TV moderator Maybrit Illner, as reported in the Berlin daily Berliner Morgenpost, that "The Federal Republic [of Germany] will play an important role in the novel."[11] Franzen spent the academic year 1981/82 in Berlin.[11]

On October 16, 2009, Franzen made an appearance alongside David Bezmozgis at the New Yorker Festival at the Cedar Lake Theatre to read a portion of his forthcoming novel.[12][13] Sam Allard, writing for North By Northwestern website covering the event, said that the "...material from his new (reportedly massive) novel"[13] was "as buoyant and compelling as ever"[13] and "marked by his familiar undercurrent of tragedy".[13] Franzen read "an extended clip from the second chapter."[13]

On March 12, 2010, riverfronttimes.com announced that Freedom is set for publication in September of 2010.[14]

Franzen's rules for writing

In February 2010, Franzen was asked by the British newspaper The Guardian-along with several other respected and notable writers including Richard Ford, Zadie Smith and Anne Enright-to contribute what he personally believed were ten serious rules to abide by for aspiring writers.[15] Franzen's rules ran as follows:

The reader is a friend, not an adversary, not a spectator.

Fiction that isn't an author's personal adventure into the frightening or the unknown isn't worth writing for anything but money.

Never use the word "then" as a ­conjunction – we have "and" for this purpose. Substituting "then" is the lazy or tone-deaf writer's non-solution to the problem of too many "ands" on the page.